Week 4 at RMMS

Week 4 at RMMS...............

For the first time ever we have a full house at RMMS with at least one volunteer in every class from Kindi all the way up to Class 8. We also had guest appearances from Dan and Danny, as well as Leigh and Eli from the Yasawa Trust.

This week a team of doctors visited the school from the mainland to examine the ears and eyes of all pupils, teachers, villagers and a few token volunteers. The most common diagnosis’ were conjunctivitis and trachomas in the eyes and common ear infections. They also successfully removed a number of foreign objects that the pupils had wedged in their ears.

On Wednesday the whole school competed in sports day with the younger kids sprinting 75m and the older kids doing 100m. All of the school, teachers and volunteers were split into four houses (red, blue, green, yellow) and they frantically cheered on fellow team mates. The main event of the afternoon was the teachers race which attracted a full turn out from the pupils who squealed hysterically from start to finish. Luke competed against the male teachers and wasn’t quite so victorious as he was against class 5. Fortunately, the female volunteers had slightly more success taking 1st and 3rd position. It’s fair to say sprinting in the blazing heat at the end of a school day offered a new challenge!

Also on Wednesday the volunteers were invited to a party hosted by the King of the Yasawas. We all donned our Fijian best dress and joined 200 guests at a local resort. We were special guests and it was a perfect opportunity for the volunteers to meet the community and socialise with the teachers outside of school hours. They prepared a traditional Fijian lovo (pig cooked underground) for the occasion and held a huge kava ceremony. We also managed to pick up some traditional Fijian dance moves and teach them a few of our own.

We ended the week with the second stage of the refurbishment of the dormitories at RMMS. The is the first GVI Trust project in Fiji using donations from a past volunteer, Sabrina. As a team of both construction and education volunteers we finished washing down, sanding and repairing the walls, floors and windows ready for painting next week.

Week 4 at RMMS